Inside Llewyn Davis
Short description
Inside Llewyn Davis is set in New York's Greenwich Village in 1961 and follows a folk singer trying to make a living from his music. Llewyn Davis has talent but little else: he has no steady home, sleeps on the couches of friends and acquaintances, and picks up odd jobs to get by. His solo album has not sold, and he carries the weight of a personal loss. An invitation to audition for a music promoter in Chicago sends him on a journey out of the city and back again, with few openings along the way. Much of what goes wrong around him he brings on himself.
Joel and Ethan Coen wrote, produced and directed the film, their eighteenth feature in chronological order, arriving between True Grit and Hail, Caesar! Oscar Isaac plays Llewyn, with Carey Mulligan as Jean, Justin Timberlake as Jim, and supporting turns from Ethan Phillips, Robin Bartlett and Max Casella.
Made for about 11 million dollars, the film took roughly 33 million worldwide. On IMDb it holds 7.4/10 from about 161,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.2/10 from around 3,000 votes, while a critics' rating stands at 8.5/10 from 292 reviews, noticeably above the audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film is dedicated to the American folk performer Dave Van Ronk.
- Cinematographer Roger Deakins was unable to work with Ethan and Joel Coen again due to being occupied with another project ("Skyfall", 2012).
- Lewin Davis is a fictional character not based on the life of Dave Van Ronk. However, the idea for his creation came from Van Ronk's memoirs. The film also depicts the Greenwich Village music scene and the real clubs Gaslight Cafe and Gerde's Folk City.
- Folk singer Dave Van Ronk, who was the inspiration for this film, released the album Inside Dave Van Ronk in 1963. The album cover featured a photograph of Van Ronk with a cat. In an interview, Ethan and Joel Coen were asked if there was a connection between this cover and the presence of a cat with the character in the film. They replied that it was not related in any way. Moreover, they only noticed the cat on the cover after filming had finished. During post-production, the art director pointed out this coincidence.
- The cover of the album Inside Llewyn Davis, which is shown in the film, was made in analogy with the cover of Inside Dave Van Ronk.
- After Oscar Isaac's first meeting with T-Bone Burnett, the latter put on a Tom Waits record and simply left the room for an hour.
- Oscar Isaac actually really dislikes cats. This dislike developed in him when he contracted an infection from a cat bite.
- Scott Avett from The Avett Brothers auditioned for the role of Lewin Davis.
- The film's directors told an interviewer that working with multiple cats on set was difficult, and they ended up completely falling out of love with the animals. Mainly due to the difficulties associated with making this film. They said that even working with a trained vulture, which they used on the set of 'True Grit' (2010), was easier than working with cats. And that was considering the vulture was rather unintelligent for a bird.
- Jim and Jean were a real American folk duo, Jim Glover and Jean Ray, who performed in the 1960s in Greenwich Village. Jim Glover was the person who first introduced the legendary performer Phil Ochs to folk music. And Jean Ray was known for inspiring Neil Young to write the song 'Cinnamon Girl'.
- In the scene where Lewin makes a phone call using a public payphone at a subway station, a modern train can be seen arriving at the station from the opposite direction.
- Lewin walks past a poster for the film "The Incredible Journey" (1963), which was released two years after the events of the film.
- A lava lamp can be seen in one of the scenes. Such lamps were invented in 1963, but did not go on sale until 1965.
- All of the Checker Taxi cars are models produced after 1973. This can be determined by their large bumpers.
- At the beginning of the film, Jean asks Lewin if he has ever won the lottery. New Hampshire was the first state in America to begin selling lottery tickets, in 1964.
- The police car that stops the protagonist during his trip to Chicago is a 1963 Plymouth.
- A 1962 Cadillac can be spotted in one of the street scenes in Greenwich Village, even though the film’s events take place in early 1961.
- The drum kit visible in the background of the recording studio is from a much later period.
- When Lewyn and Jean are talking on the couch in Jean’s apartment, her hair noticeably changes position between shots.
- US Highway 80 does not go through Akron. It was likely meant to be Interstate 80, which had not yet been built in 1961. US 80 runs from Savannah to Dallas.
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